A Louisiana woman was arrested and fired from her job as a sheriff’s dispatcher last week after she allegedly went on a spending spree with $1.2 million that had been mistakenly deposited into her brokerage account.
Kelyn Spadoni, 33, was being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on $50,000 bond after being taken into custody on charges of grand theft, bank fraud and illegal transmission of monetary funds.
A clerical error by Charles Schwab & Co on Feb. 23 led to the accidental deposit.
The company, however, maintains that it meant to transfer only $82 into the woman’s account, reports said. Instead, $1,205,619 was sent, according to court records.
The mix-up happened only a month after Spadoni opened the account with the financial services corporation.
After officials realized the error, they attempted to reach Spadoni, who avoided multiple calls, text messages and emails from them, reports said.
Schwab tried to reverse the transaction electronically, but the attempt was rejected because the money was not available, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, where Spadoni had been employed as a 911 dispatcher for 4 ½ years.
In addition to Spadoni being fired and arrested, Schwab sued her in federal court, arguing that her account contract includes an agreement to repay in full any overpayment of funds.
“By her conduct, Spadoni has made it clear she does not intend to return the mistakenly transferred funds to Schwab,” the lawsuit said.
After Schwab attorneys contacted authorities, an investigation found that Spadoni had moved the funds to another account and then used part of the money to buy a house and a 2021 Hyundai Genesis sport utility vehicle worth at least $48,000, reports said.
“It’s not her money,” said sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jason Rivarde. “She has no legal claim to that money ... Even if it was put in there by mistake. It was an accounting error.”
So far, about 75% of the money has been recovered, he added.
The company argued in its lawsuit that Spadoni’s account contract with Schwab includes an agreement that if a client receives an overpayment of funds, the client is required to return the full amount.
“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them. This is no different,” Rivarde said.
About the Author
